Is Hamilton worth it? — Page 2

I understand. When things are hyped so much, it is hard for them to live up to expectations and the skeptic in us wants to disbelieve. I sometimes get that way. But the only true way to know is to experience for yourself. Three hyped shows I avoided for years:

1) Rent—did nothing for me when I finally saw it 10 years in
2) The Producers—did nothing for me when I saw it with Jason Alexander and Martin Short
3) Book of Mormon—loved it when I finally broke down last year and went

In the end, I’m glad I went to all three so I could experience them and evaluate for myself.

I recommend waiting for the demand to fade a bit and ticket prices to level off. Or win the lottery. But try it to decide for yourself. To me, though, Hamilton lives up to the hype. It may not be perfect, but it is ground-breaking and I found there’s a lot more that works in it than needs to be improved.

As mentioned, I really think Hamilton is best and almost completely captured on the OBC recording. If you know it well, I don't know if there is much reason to see it live with a second rate cast. The staging isn't really necessary to tell the story in my opinion. Wake me up when the OBC filmed version has been finally released.

---

I recently saw Hamilton in Puerto Rico and I had never seen it before. I was most impressed with the score. I did think that the directing was a little too slick for its own good and it took away from the book emotionally. As much as I respect Lin M Miranda, I thought he was the weakest link performance wise, and things particularly fell apart in the 2nd act during the Hurricane number. I felt like the role required an actor with a larger presence who could fill a theatre of that size The rest of the cast was top notch especially vocally so they swallowed Lin up. I am not sure Lin's calling is that of a musical theatre performer. He would be great lets say on television in a half hour comedy playing a young father raising 2 adorable children. And to his credit he is one of the few people that does very well giving interviews for he has a strong sense of humor and is very intelligence.

brdwybuff said: "LesWickedly said: "Don’t go then. They’ll be fine without you."

Wow! That was rude. I am seriously asking for ppls opinions."

I see that you’re rather new here. All part of what makes this Board so unique. And keeps the number of posts down to a manageable limit.

If you have the time, read the Chernow biography that so excited Lin. Or listen to the audiobook.

If you have any interest in history you won’t be wasting your time and you’ll understand the musical better than if you go in cold and have trouble following the lyrics.

You’ll get an exciting view of what those times were really like and not the myths you were taught in school.

JFK was famously quoted at a state dinner honoring Nobel laureates, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House - with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”

Well, maybe not so much.

I saw the original production shortly after it opened, but will admit that although I liked it, I wasn't completely enamored by it. That could be because I sat in the very last row of the theatre. As I made sure not to listen to the cast recording prior to seeing it, a lot of the lyrics were unintelligible from where I was sitting.

I saw it a few months later. That time 8th row center orchestra. What a completely different experience. It was then I understood what all of the excitement was about.

I saw it twice in Chicago. I absolutely loved Joshua Henry as Burr and Karen Olivo as Angelica.

I saw the Angelica tour 3 times last summer, and will say, that the Angelica tour was the best overall company of the 3 productions I had seen. Not a weak link in the cast, and the energy from everyone was fantastic. Edred Utomi is my favorite Hamilton, and Nicholas Christoper is neck and neck with Joshua Henry.

I'll be seeing the Broadway production on 2/17. I wanted to see Michael Luwoye before he departs. I'm curious to see how the Broadway production will measure up to the first 2 times I saw it.

My only disappoint is that I never got to see Christopher Jackson as George Washington as he was out both times I saw it on Broadway. Sydney James Harcourt was wonderful. Austin Smith was on the second time.

---

Updated On: 2/4/19 at 09:10 AM

DottieD'Luscia said: "I saw the original production shortly after it opened, but will admit that although I liked it, I wasn't completely enamored by it. That could be because I sat in the very last row of the theatre. As I made sure not to listen to the cast recording prior to seeing it, a lot of the lyrics were unintelligible from where I was sitting."

I saw it on Broadway last summer, so missed the OBC, but the rest of my experience was very similar to yours. We were in the second row from the back of orchestra right and the mezzanine overhang made it seem like we were looking through a mail slot in a door. I was less than blown away, but I've never been a fan of hip hop music or its attendant culture and the show had been so hyped by then that my response was perhaps not surprising. I can't help wondering whether I would've enjoyed it a lot more if I'd seen it early on, before the mania started, or if it's just not my cup of tea.

I have only one song from the show in my music library, and it's "The Schuyler Sisters", because I like the female vocals. I wish there was a version of it without the male rap.

---

I saw it last year on Broadway and I did not like it at all. I appreciated the talented cast and the terrific staging, but could not follow the story at all. Much of the lyrics seem to be exposition, telling us what this person or that person did. Exposition does not make good drama. What makes it worse is that much of the exposition is done with rap, which does not fall easily on the ears or the brain. There needs to be time for the ear to hear a lyric and the brain to process it, and rap really doesn't allow that. I am not a huge expert on opera, but I believe that Recitative is deliberately done in the style of normal speech so that important exposition can be heard and understood by the audience. This simply does not happen with HAMILTON, and therefore I found myself lost. To compound the confusion you had some of the lead actors playing different historical figures. This really unnecessarily complicated the entire show. Like someone else here said, I am glad I saw it so I know what people are talking about, but I have no need to ever see it again.

Yes, but you should probably lower your expectations.

I just don't get, there are now 40 contributors here, how any one of them can make up YOUR mind, either way, to go see any show.

Sure, get opinions and watch all the clips out there---there are almost enough so you really don't HAVE to go, and decide if the music gets you.

If you weigh up all the pros and cons and the pros win, you go and then hate it, who you gonna blame?

BWW

Just go and buy a bloody ticket.

nikkitax said: "Hi guys,

Would you recommend this show to a foreign tourist?

I'm very curious about it but it's a lot of money!



I'm new here but I've seen Hamilton 3 times after reading Chernow's book twice (once via books on tape) and reading Hamilton, The Revolution by Jeremy McCarter and LMM several times and Hamilton by Richard Sylla and many other light-reading books about Hamilton. (I don't consider Chernow's "light" reading but others are.)

If the person has heard the hype and is curious about the show, it might be good to see it, even if the experience is expensive.

If it were my friend from a foreign country, my concerns would be the following.

Does the person:

1. Speak or understand English?

2. Appreciate musicals as an art form?

Is the person:

3. Interested in World History as well as American History?

4. Curious and willing to be adventurous to add to life-long memories?

5. Unconcerned about the cost?

I enjoy Hamilton because it sparked an interest in history that has changed my world view on many aspects.

I also appreciate the fact that one of LMM's motivations is to educate our nation's students and adults of all ages regarding a major part of our history that was intentionally suppressed.

The show was especially inspiring for me because of the immigrant story.

It's refreshing to see an entity in show business that is so generous with time, talents and money. I don't know of any other show that has given away more tickets for $10 than Hamilton.

For me, even if I saw the show and couldn't understand it and didn't particularly like it, I would appreciate the fact that I was supporting a worthy cause involving highly noble motivations.

But that's just me.

Updated On: 2/5/19 at 03:56 PM

Absolutely not.

---

Lot666 said: "Generous? I don't know. It doesn't seem like much of a hardship to give away a few $10 seats when the box office price of tickets for your show ranges from $375 to $849."

But that could also mean they are losing $839 of potential income for every lottery seat, so... it is something they don't have to do.

"I think it is one of the most important musicals ever written and presented. I've seen it four times and would see it four more."

I was fortunate to have seen it with the original Broadway cast and it was wonderful !! I saw it Labor Day weekend and I don't think it had officially opened yet so the hype was not as crazy yet. My family and I saw it in London last December and it was very good. In a way I think I enjoyed it a bit more because I may have not caught every lyric the first time - lol.